Twisted reflection
by Y. Honey
Summary: Rebecca Albright was convinced that she didn't fear him, she was also convinced her last enocunter with the Scarecrow didn't change her. But sometimes, changes happen even if you don't want them to, and sometimes, those changes are not for good. One Shot


Disclaimer: Batman and all related characters are copyright of DC comics and Warner Bros.

The main character in the following story is Becky Albright, she appeared in Mistress of Fear, Scarecrow (Villains) #1 February 1998. This fanfic takes place between the last pages of the story and then continues an undetermined time after that.

**Twisted Reflection.**

**By **

**Yuna Luna 78**

"She's everything you fear," the dark figure stated, grinning triumphantly as he effectively immobilized the scrawny man garbed in burlap and straw, just to drag him to the edge of the rooftop and jump down, gliding with his prey towards the approaching police cars.

The smile she had offered her savior faded quickly after he left, since her knees were starting to protest the recent stress she had placed on them; leaning on her cane, the young girl took in a deep breath and headed for the stairs, preparing herself for the endless questions the police would have for her.

She was already mentally going through the answers she would most likely give: _Yes, I will testify again. No, I don't want any police officers assigned to protect me. Yes, I will be alright by myself. No, I don't have any further statements and I certainly don't want to deal with the press again._

She was about to open the door to the stairs when something shiny caught her eye. The redhead stopped and turned to look at what it was. She swallowed as she realized it was a can... a spray can full of fear gas. She stood there watching it for a moment, then her eyes looked back to find another one, and further away, close to the edge of the roof was an empty potato sack and next to it... there was that. The abomination of a costume he had made for her.

It suddenly hit her that Batman had most likely not noticed it, or the two cans of fear gas scattered on the roof. Granted, Crane had a sickle at hand and was threatening her with it, and the Dark Knight obviously had other priorities in mind, so it was not surprising the Bat didn't see the items the Scarecrow had meant for her.

Surprisingly, Rebecca Albright found herself wondering if it had been really necessary for the Batman to push Crane's face into the dirt the way he'd done. Because, if the rumors were true, a fighter of the Batman's caliber could certainly have stopped her Scarecrow in a much less violent way than how he'd done it.

Rebecca stopped at that. She really shouldn't call that madman 'her' Scarecrow anymore. It just wasn't right at all, and Crane was not 'hers' in any way and yet...

And yet...

She had to admit Jonathan Crane was probably the only man she could call 'hers' considering how every other man but him had chosen not to get involved with her more than what was absolutely necessary. And he had helped her, in a strange, twisted way, Crane had actually helped her face her childhood traumas and fears.

Rebecca stopped again. She couldn't allow herself to think like that. The man was a raving lunatic. He had just tried to force her join him, and when she refused he threatened to kill her, for God's sake! She should be filled with hate for Jonathan Crane and be glad he was on his way back to Arkham instead of worrying about the way Batman had tackled him.

It was then she noticed she had somehow walked back to where the costume was. She swallowed again as her emerald eyes fixated on the horrid thing.

_You shall be the Mistress of Fear, you will join me._

Crane's words echoed in her mind as she kept staring at the nightmarish outfit. Had he really thought she would agree to do something as insane as joining him?

But she hadn't seen madness in his eyes when he made that offer, just an overwhelming confidence, which turned into true disappointment when she rejected his invitation.

_You have the classical psychological profile to be one of us!_

His response to her refusal resounded in her mind, and she shook her head to deny Crane's words. She was not like him or the other inmates at Arkham. Not at all. She had a life and a future, and she couldn't waste it on something as stupid as revenge.

Confident on her reasoning, she turned and once again headed for the door.

_But I'm offering you the chance to see the fear in their eyes!_

Rebecca stopped again. The sound of police sirens filling the chilly air around her as she remembered that line. She realized then that she had actually considered Crane's offer for a second or two, but had refused it in the end. Why?

"Because I have a future," she muttered to herself. "And I'm not going to sacrifice it..."

She then realized something else. She had rejected Crane's offer not only because it was against anything she believed in as a law student. She had also rejected it because she had been afraid of throwing her future away.

So, in the end. It all came down to one thing: Fear. Her fearing Jonathan Crane.

"No, I'm not afraid of him... and I'm not afraid of you," she said, looking back at the costume. "I don't fear what you represent."

But was she really not afraid?

"Yes... I'm not afraid, and I can prove it to myself."

Stating that, the redhead took in a deep breath and, gathering her resolve, did something she was sure would always remind her how she was not afraid of her Scarecrow, or the offer he'd made her.

Several months later...

"I'm glad we're finally graduating!" a young man, sitting in a bench of Gotham City's University Law campus, said to his girlfriend when he noticed the redhead who had been sitting in front of them stood up and started leaving.

"You're right... we'll be finally able to get away from that cripple," the girl answered her boyfriend, not bothering to lower her voice. "I've been fearing her stalker's goin' to show up ever since that night, you know?"

"Me, too," he agreed. "Good thing it's only two more weeks until the ceremony and it's good bye Ms. Three legs!"

The couple shared a laugh then, and didn't notice that the person they had been mocking was now standing right in front of them. She had heard them, and was not happy at what they said.

"I would expect something like this from High School kids," Rebecca said, effectively getting the attention of her laughing classmates. "Seems to me your body grew, but your brains didn't. Listen you two, I've heard the way you talk behind my back and I'm tired of it. Stop it."

"Wow... you're actually talking back to us, cripple?" the girlfriend said, angered at Rebecca's response. "What's gotten into you?"

"Yeah, you're gonna set your scary boyfriend on us?" the young man added. "Nah... you can't do that, Crane's been rotting in Arkham for months, so there, Ms. Nerdy three legs!"

"Now, why don't you just leave?" the girlfriend huffed. "You're interrupting us!"

Neither of the couple noticed the redhead's hand tightening its grip on her cane, or the way her lips pursed at their insults.

"Fine. Carol Ann, David... I'm sorry to interrupt your oh so immature cuddling in Campus grounds. I'm going," Rebecca finally said, turning and leaving the two childish idiots behind.

"But don't think I'll forget this," she muttered, to her own surprise, once she was several steps away.

The night before graduation...

Rebecca Albright sat alone in her bedroom's floor, right in front of her open closet. She should have been sleeping. She should really be sleeping. Her graduation ceremony was tomorrow, after all. And she didn't want to be sleepy during the ceremony. But she couldn't sleep.

Because something was trying to come out. Something she had been holding back ever since that incident at the garden with Carol Ann and David. She had managed to keep that something under control just by staring at the very same thing she was looking at now. But not tonight. Tonight, looking at it was only making this something inside her stronger. Hungrier. Darker.

_What right did they have to mock you? To torment you? To treat you like garbage the way you had been during those horrible years in High School, Junior High... even elementary school?_

"No right," she listened to herself answer her dark thoughts. "Carol and David have no right to do that."

_Exactly. And you can make sure they don't do it again. You can make sure they look at you in fear. You can make them pay. Do you think those two fools deserve to graduate? To get a law degree?_

"No. Idiots like them don't deserve it," she muttered again.

_So punish them. You know you can. Punish them. Stop them now or they'll keep mocking you forever, spreading rumors about you, stopping you from getting the work and recognition you deserve. You know where they are, most likely screwing like rabbits in David's apartment. C`mon, it'll be quick._

"But..." the redhead blinked and bit her fist, not sure of what she should answer to that.

_Punish them. You know you want to. Punish them. Only this once. After all... who's going to know?_

"Yes... who's going to know?" she agreed and slowly, she reached for what she had been staring at that was inside her closet: a potato sack she had opened so a horrid mask peered through, as if staring back at her like a twisted reflection in an old, dirty mirror.

Carol Ann Wilcox and David Kotler did not show up to their graduation ceremony the following day... in fact, their bodies were not found until three days later, hers with a broken skull and his stabbed in the neck and stomach.

_End._

Notes.

Well, here it is. My first fanfic in years and my first in English. I honestly wasn't expecting it would be a Batman Fanfic or that it would be based in a comic book character almost nobody knows. But the idea wouldn't go away and I decided to write it, I'm not very good at writing dark stories, but I think this turned out ok. I only hope you enjoyed reading it.


End file.
